Blog Tour: When The Caged Bird Flies by Louise Shelley (Young Adult, 9/10E)

Love the simple yet effective cover

January 2022, Clink Street Publishing, 188 pages, Paperback, Review copy 

Book summary 

When she met Desmond, a whole new world opened before her.

Her community, however, harboured a deep suspicion and fear of strangers. Amanda then saw a different side. A community that was controlling, interfering and would go to any lengths to force its members to conform. Even her beloved Welsh mountains now bore a sinister aspect as they seemed to close in on her.

As Amanda tried to navigate this harsh new reality, she no longer knew who she could trust. She did know however, that trusting the wrong person could spell disaster.

Nayu's thoughts

I thought Amanda's adventure would be a tale about finding where her heart belongs, and while she sort of did, it was more relatable than I could expect. Yes, I'm a white girl who grew up in a white village. No I did not ever date someone not white. I also happen to be a white girl from a Christian village who converted to Islam at university. My early days of wearing a hijab got a lot of stares, even from people I knew as they then did a double take at who I was. Thankfully it became really normal and years later no one batted an eyelid, but feeling out of place and having neighbours visibly stand in the street and stare was uncomfortable enough. It is not thankfully on the level of hatred that Amanda endured because she and Desmond loved each other. 

I was pleased they found each other as they seemed well suited, apart from Desmond's strange moods. Most of the time he seemed on the same philosophical level as Amanda, delighting in showing her his town which was so different to her narrowminded village. She in turn loved showing him the surrounding countryside where they could be with each other mostly without others spoiling their fun. There were lots of great descriptions of nature, as well as of buildings too. When people were openly hostile because of Desmond's mere presence I half expected him to get more confrontational about it. He seemed almost good-natured about how deep people's racism got - it bothered him a little, but he didn't seem to be affected much by it, and yet when it came to a little thing called jealously it lit a fire within him that affected Amanda more than people would ever know. 

It did feel strange how Amanda's family were initially welcoming to Desmond while he was still her brother's friend, but as soon as their relationship got serious they showed their true colours. I'd have liked to have seen more of Desmond's family who welcomed in Amanda, I had hoped they might spend more time at his family's home when Amanda's became a battleground but hey didn't. That seed of jealousy which took route in Desmond's heart soured their friendship and in the end...well let's say I did not expect the twist the end took and was shocked by the final revelation. With hindsight the result made sense. 

I can only imagine what feels like to endure racism on a regular basis, which sadly despite many decades passing does not seem to have improved much in too many areas. I do not and can not iunderstand why it is such an issue. We all bleed the same colour blood. Desmond said something about the colour of skin that made me smile as it was so true. I like that Amanda's relationship showed how backwards some people can be in their way of thinking despite living in the modern world. I thought Desmond at times was a bit hasty, yes a certain opportunity at work possibly could have been to tick a box with having a non-white worker, but I also thought it was mostly because he was a genuinely hard worker. Unfortunately part of his heart hardend through a bitter emotion which in the end caused more trouble than the racism did which felt ironic given the opposition the duo had faced head on together.

One day I hope that no matter what someone looks like they can be accepted anywhere they go regardless of who they are with. Until then let's hope more books like this one can show the hardship of being different. Desmond definitely helped Amanda realised how penned in she was by her family and neighbours, and showed her there was more to life than a narrow-minded outlook on life. She flew when she could, but where her wings took her was unexpected to everyone. 

Suggested read

For more thoughtful tales involving not fitting in try Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais (Young Adult, 10/10E)